Top Women Follow Graf No Upstarts Remain As Play Reaches Semis

In a zone of her own and still unbeaten in 1995, Steffi Graf surprised even herself with a stunning performance that led a march by the top four seeded women into the Wimbledon semifinals.

Graf slugged so many clean winners with her forehand, her backhand and her volleys she might as well have been playing against a ball machine as she stretched her record for the year to 30-0.

She jumped on Mary Joe Fernandez’s serves as if they were traveling in slow motion. From the end of the first set through the first three games of the second set, Graf won 14 consecutive points en route to a 6-3, 6-0 romp.

“Perfect,” Graf said, abandoning her usually harsh self-criticism as she assessed the second set. “I felt I could do anything that I wanted to.”

It didn’t worry the top-seeded German that she might have peaked too soon as she pursues her sixth Wimbledon title.

“Whenever I play that kind of tennis, it doesn’t matter - first round, last round,” Graf said. “It’s really special to be out there. It’s such a joy that it doesn’t really matter to me when it is. That’s what I’m playing for.”

Next up for Graf on Thursday is Jana Novotna, the player who virtually handed Graf the winner’s silver platter two years ago in one of the worst chokes in Wimbledon history. Novotna, a 6-2, 6-3 victor over Kimiko Date, will have to overcome the memory of that capitulation to Graf after coming within a point of a 5-1 lead in the third set.

“I tend to think that she can,” Graf said, sounding not at all certain. “It’s difficult to say because you can never put yourself into somebody else’s mind.”

Novotna, who choked even worse in the French Open last month when she blew a 5-0, 40-0 lead in the third set against Chanda Rubin, brushed aside concern about the 1993 Wimbledon final haunting her.

“Really, not at all,” Novotna said. “We are two years further… . It’s going to be great to be back on the Centre Court again playing Graf, and we’ll see.”

While Graf and Novotna won so easily, Spaniard’s Conchita Martinez and Arantxa Sanchez Vicario took tougher paths to reach the semis against each other.

Martinez’s reign as Wimbledon champion teetered precariously, like a ball atop the net cord, until it landed luckily in her favor in a nervous struggle against Gabriela Sabatini that ended with a 7-5, 7-6 (7-5) triumph. Throughout the tournament, Martinez has sort of drifted through, overlooked because of the dominance of Graf. “I’m the defending champion,” Martinez said defensively when asked if she felt Graf moving toward another title. “I’m the Wimbledon champion. Nobody can take it away from me.”

Sanchez Vicaro rallied from a breakdown in each set to beat Brenda Schultz-McCarthy 6-4, 7-6 (7-4). The tie-breaker went with serve until Shultz-McCarthy miss-hit a volley to give Sanchez Vicario a 6-4 lead. The match ended on the next point with another error by Schultz-McCarthy.

The victory marked a breakthrough for Sanchez Vicario, who had failed to progress past the quarterfinals in eight previous Wimbledon appearances. She had reached the quarters twice, in 1989 and 1991.

“This is one of the happiest days of my life,” Sanchez Vicario said. “This is the best Wimbledon of my career so far. My goal was to try to pass the quarters. Now that I’ve done it, it feels great.”

Of the four women’s quarters, none matched the Martinez-Sabatini duel for quality and drama.

This was Martinez at her best, playing the way she did to win the title a year ago and the way she rarely has since. And it was Sabatini at her best, attacking the net with more confidence than she usually shows, playing gutsy tennis even after blowing some big opportunities.

Sabatini served for the first set at 5-4 but double-faulted at 15-40 to allow Martinez to tie it. After Martinez held to 6-5, Sabatini again dug herself into a 15-40 hole and should have lost the set on the next point when a linesman missed an obviously long backhand. Martinez argued with the umpire to no avail, but got another break point and cashed in this time with a forehand volley that Sabatini netted.

Sabatini’s head slumped and she wore the look of a loser as Martinez picked up the pace and raced to a 5-1 lead in the second set.

Martinez played stronger, steadier tennis, seemed to be in position more often, ran less and moved Sabatini around the court, letting her make mistakes. Martinez moved to the net only occasionally, but when she did it was with confidence and careful execution, and her deep groundstrokes kept Sabatini pinned on the baseline.

The match appeared all but over until Sabatini somehow clawed her way back, suddenly finding the range on her groundstrokes and going for broke at the net.

Sabatini won four straight games to tie the set at 5-5, along the way fighting off two match points at 15-40 on serve when Martinez led 5-2. When Sabatini broke Martinez to make it 5-4, they put on a show of great shotmaking. In that exchange, Martinez drilled a backhand down the line, Sabatini lunged out with a forehand volley, Martinez tried a forehand pass, and Sabatini went the other way for a backhand volley that Martinez finally netted.

The level of play got better as the match wore on, Martinez suddenly vulnerable and Sabatini gaining confidence with the help of most of the crowd cheering her on. Fittingly, the tie-breaker and match ended with a crisp rally when Martinez slugged a deep backhand, Sabatini sent back a forehand crosscourt and Martinez put it away with a volley.